


And They Were No Longer Breathing

by KyeAbove



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Adult Danny Fenton, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Communication, Dan Phantom Is A Morosexual, Drama, Dubious Science, F/M, Family Bonding, Gen, Ghost Wesley Weston, Ghosts, Lack of Communication, M/M, Older Characters, Parenthood, Past Character Death, Self-Hatred, Swearing, Timeline Shenanigans, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23341510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: Jack died when Danny was just a kid. Without Jack, it took Maddie a decade longer to finish the ghost portal, and just as quickly for Danny to get it to work. Twenty-four year old Danny is a father, due to be married, and far too jaded to think being half-ghost could bring anything good.
Relationships: Dan Phantom/Wesley Weston, Danny Fenton/Valerie Gray, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton, Vlad Masters/Walter Weston
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Ghost Whisperer

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t written any DP fanfiction or really heavily kept up with what’s been written in like...ten years? So I don’t know if this concept has been done before. If it is, it is just my take on it.

There were many things in both life and death that Wes did not know even now that he’d died young. Being a ghost was about as scary as living, and Wes wasn’t sure why death was called a respite. Maybe his dad had been right to always seem down-trodden and sleazy, since life sucked anyways. 

In the four years since that tree branch broke under him, sending him down the ground and his following death from fall damage, Wes still hadn’t even figured out what his full ghostly obsession was, only that he really liked taking photos. He had died after taking one final photo, but photography shouldn’t have been enough of a tie to the human word to come back as a ghost, right? Wes had so many questions and no other, more experienced ghosts ever gave him a straight answer. 

Still, they found a use for him. Photography. Wes recalled he hadn't been well respected for his hobby in life, but ghosts valued physical means far more than humans. Sometimes he took photos for other ghosts out of the kindness of his no longer beating heart, or without them knowing, or most rarely, he was told to take a specific photo and sent on his way with a gun waved in his face. Stupid Skulker.

Fumbling with his camera, Wes focused the lense as best as could when he wasn’t the most stable floater, and when his subject was behind a glass. In frame came the so-called ‘halfa’ Skulker had told him to photograph. Skulker wanted ‘proof’ of this...halfa, for whatever reason. Wes only saw a normal human man, fluttering about the kitchen, talking to a woman who seemed warm towards the man’s presence. Their body language told Wes this was more than a friend visiting. A girlfriend, or something with even more commitment.

Wes took his first photo, and right at that moment, a wisp of mist escaped the man’s mouth. Wes lowered his camera. Not a normal human then. Sharply, the man’s gaze turned right on Wes. What Wes had been sure were blue before, were now narrowing glowing green eyes.

Knowing the threat even not knowing what level of threat, Wes turned invisible and flew up. Maybe Skulker would be alright with just one photo. The man physically existed and Skulker had that proof on Wes’s camera, and Wes would develop the photo when he got back to the ghost zone.

No sooner than Wes was above the building, he was not alone. Standing on the roof was a man, lanky but tall. His long white hair was tied back, and he had a tired look on his face. He just sort of glowed in that off way every ghost did, and that was how Wes was sure he’d met another ghost. A few ghosts had been venturing into the human world since that portal opened up, but Wes had never seen this ghost either here or the ghost zone.

“I know you’re there, ghost.” The white haired ghost spoke, looking around suspiciously.

Wes gasped, offended, and unsure how he’d been had, then turned visible again and pointed accusingly at the man. “You’re a ghost too!” 

“I’m just the clean up crew. Party of me.” The other ghost pulled out a...thermos? This was no time for soup, Wes thought. Wes hadn’t had soup in a long time and saw no reason for that to change. “Will this be a fight or can I just put you in the thermos now?” He tossed the thermos back and forth in his gloved hands.

“Why would I go in there?” Wes was genuinely confused. His camera wouldn’t even fit in that thermos, let alone him.

The other ghost seemed off-put by the idea of having to explain it. “It’s...how else am I going to get you back to the ghost zone?” 

“Letting me leave? I’ll be going back there anyways.” 

“...you’re not here to steal boxes are you? Or my left shoe?”

“I came here to take photos.” Wes stated matter of factly. 

“Show me.” 

Wes flew back a little. No way was he letting this other ghost near his camera. He could steal it, or break it. Wes could not part with his camera or else he’d feel like dying again. He'd woken up with it in the ghost zone and hadn't been parted from it since. He'd died holding a camera, and so he'd died for his right to take photos.

“Never! Back off, ghost.” Wes threw the other ghost’s previous insult back at him, and flew off completely, intending to leave for the ghost zone once more. The human world was far too dangerous for him now, even when the danger was another ghost.

Brow knitting, Danny watched the retreating ghost. He wasn’t sure if he should chase after the ghost. He seemed harmless enough. Somewhere on the level of the Box Ghost. Still, a bit of a creep to be taking photos of him. Danny hoped he'd called the ghost out on it the first time, instead of being stalked for far longer than five minutes. He seemed to have some sort of ghost sense, but Danny still wasn't sure how reliable that power was. 

If not for Valerie waiting back in their apartment for them to begin dinner, Danny would have gone after him. Instead Danny phased through the roof, and changed back into his human form, and slipped into the kitchen, playing off like he'd just stepped away to the restroom. Valarie didn't know what he'd become, and he didn't want to tell her until he knew what he was doing. 

He smiled at Valarie as he sat down to eat, and tried to push the ghost business aside for this one meal. It was what he deserved, since he never wanted to be a part of it in the first place. But he'd unintentionally decided his own fate when he walked into that portal, and there was no going back now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The subject of Wes’s death will be brought up more later in the story.


	2. Silver

Danny had been in an accident a month ago and he'd been regretting his choice to try to cheer up his mother ever since. He had felt uneasy letting over twenty years of his mother's life go to waste, but something still didn't feel right about this new life of lies. 

But his mother was important to him. And he was the only child of hers still in town. Jazz had moved on to better things than being stuck in Amity Park. Danny was amazed by her life, but still wished she was around to hug. Danny needed a deep long hug right now and someone to spill his worries to. He didn't want to burden Valerie. Jazz had training. 

Danny wasn't sure whether he needed therapy or just someone to help adjust to his new...powers. He didn't know how to explain this change. How it was even possible. Yet when he willed it he changed. Into a ghost. A ghost that looked just like him but with glowing green eyes and white hair. Still, he breathed. 

That night Danny was woken up at 2am. He felt momentary panic of the worst kind, as he had been for the month. Since the accident. The wails told him that thankfully it was not a ghost attack, but the baby. Mason was two and a half months old and had a strong pair of lungs. He'd mostly been using those lungs to cry, and both parents couldn't wait for the day he could laugh as well. 

Danny groaned as his body cracked out of its settled position, and Valerie woke up in bed beside him, also hearing her baby's cries. She tried to roll out of bed, but Danny stopped her.

"I'll check on him, Val." Danny said, cupping her face and smiling tiredly at her. She smiled back.

"Then I'll get him next time." Valerie replied, snuggling back into the covers. Danny let go of her face, and got out of bed and went to the nursery. 

Mason Jackson Fenton was named with both Danny's father and their old friend Sam in mind. Danny thought fondly of her and Tucker. They had grown distant throughout high school but still kept in contact even now. Currently, Sam and Tucker were off somewhere, filming new episodes of their nature-technology-variety television show. They often sent Danny behind the scene updates. Danny still hadn't told them of his ghost problem. He hadn't told anyone. He didn't know how to tell anyone. 

Danny was not okay. 

He was better than not okay. He was absolutely devastated. But his baby needed him right now so he kept walking, ignoring his issues. 

He got to the room, and walked to the crib. Mason was squirming and crying, and Danny picked him up and checked for all possible causes of his son's distress, eventually seeing that the diaper had been used and that was quick to change.

Mason quieted down after that, and cuddled up in his father's arms, cooing softly. Danny rocked him back to sleep. He put Mason back in his crib and watched him breath. He'd done a lot of that in Mason's early weeks and it never stopped being fascinating. He was a father. It still hasn't fully sunk in, but he didn't let that stop him from doing his best for Mason. 

Danny didn't remember his own father very well. Passing, fleeting memories, yes, but he'd been four when Jack Fenton died. He hadn't quite believed his mom's stories of the event until the portal incident. But now his father's passing felt so much more tangible.

He'd never had another father figure in his life since. Maddie had never remarried or dated, content with the years she got with Jack, and finding ghosts more important than finding love. Vlad Masters had certainly tried, as he'd been all over Maddie at the reunion ten years ago, but Maddie had quickly put him in his place and they seemed content as friends once more. 

Vlad had gotten married to a Walter Weston some years ago, and they seemed plenty happy. Maddie had been Vlad's 'best woman' while Danny had simply mingled with the guests, although Vlad had suggested Danny be Walter's best man. Danny had declined out of respect since while he hadn't known Walter's son Wesley very well, it still felt the best man title was meant for Wesley even though he'd died a year before the wedding. As well, Danny barely had a relationship with Walter so it seemed misplaced. 

Danny and Vlad weren't close either, even though Vlad had attempted to bond in the past. Vlad couldn't replace Jack even though he'd tried. There was Valerie's father, who was a good man through and through, but there was still the distanceness that came from being future in-laws.

So Danny was mostly making it up as he went along, how to be a father. He hoped he'd done his best, and would continue to be. He hoped to be a good husband too, if he could keep his life together despite the new problems he faced. 

A loving future wife, a son, family. That's what Danny needed to focus on. He knew that, but his new haunt was always on his mind. Until he figured out how to get rid of it, it always would be. 

Danny reached down and stroked Mason's face. He wondered which parent Mason would take most after. If he'd grow up well and live a good life. Danny would certainly do his best to be the best, but there was only so many outside forces Danny could fight off. 

His warm feeling though was cooled by his apparent 'ghost sense' going off. Panicking and thinking of Valarie and Mason, he dashed to the window and was desperate to think it could be that weird camera ghost. Instead he came face to face with a machine. And a gun pointed right at his face. Danny stepped back, and changed right there and then, ready to fight. The machine smirked. 

"So you're the halfa everyone is talking about, eh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like showing that Danny, Sam, and Tucker truly are the best of friends. Naming the baby Samuel would have been a bit too much of a reference to Sam, and Manson is a bit strong as a first name, so Mason is the compromise.
> 
> It's up for interpretation whether Sam and Tucker are a couple. I feel it adds nothing to settle on that or friendship so it's up to your personal opinion on the ship as to what they are.


	3. Bluebird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the one-shot [Ghostly Obsession](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23508280) if you're interested in this AU as a whole instead of just this one story, since it adds more to Wes's character.

This was one of those times Danny wished he knew how to properly use his new powers. That he wasn’t the only one of his kind, and there was someone who could teach him how to be part ghost. But he knew he was doing it right when he blasted the machine right in the face with twin beams of ectoplasm. "Get away from me!"

He flew out of the window and punched the temporarily dazed ghost in his face and sent him flying even further back. Danny had to protect Valarie and Mason. Without letting the ghost know about his family, if that wasn’t already an open secret. 

Danny hoped the ghost was so caught up in fighting him that he didn’t hear Mason start to cry from all the sudden sounds. Danny shot at the ghost again, wanting to get him as far away from the apartment building as possible, and minimize damage. 

All while, altered by the strange sounds, Valerie rushed into Mason’s room. In her point of view, she only saw two ghosts fighting outside the window while her baby cried, and her fiance was nowhere in sight. She picked up Mason, and rushed from the room with him. Ghosts were not a good sign, and neither was Danny being gone. 

She got back to their bedroom, and grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and frantically dialed Maddie Fenton’s number while she hummed a lullaby to try and calm Mason down. She put the phone on speaker so she’d hear when Maddie picked up, and went around looking for the spare ghost hunting tech that Maddie always insisted they keep around. Valarie needed it now more than anything now. 

“Hello?” Maddie’s tired voice came through the phone quickly enough. Valarie hadn’t even considered it was nighttime, and right now she didn’t care. She raced back to the phone, and picked it up.

“Mrs Fenton! There are ghosts and I can’t find Danny!”    
  
“I’m on my way. Get to safety.” There was no trace of sleep in Maddie’s voice now, only raw fury and confidence. 

“I will.” She ended the call, and Valarie shoved her phone in her pajama pockets and rushed out of the room, and then got out of the apartment building, holding Mason close as she ran as far away from the scene as she could. 

Danny didn’t see her leave, too busy getting his butt kicked by this ghost. He was slammed into another wall, and already growing exhausted. He rubbed his head and grumbled, and the ghost came to float in front of him, wearing a taunting smirk.

“You’re certainly not what I expected, welp.” The ghost aimed his gun, and Danny readied his fist. “Why, most reports pinned you as female.”    
  
Danny’s face darkened considerably further. “I’m a man, thank you very much.” He punched the ghost in the face again, and flew up hoping to avoid prompt retaliation, only for the ghost to retaliate with a stun gun to his side that felt like it was shocking his entire ghostly being. Danny fell right down to the ground. He felt his control on his form slip away.

“Fuck!” Danny screamed as his body returned to normal between the mysterious glowing rings. He was now defenseless. He hadn’t brought an ecto gun with him for something as simple as checking on his son.    
  
The ghost floated above him, and smirked, aimed his gun, _and-_

A beam of bright blue light suddenly shot up and hit the ghostly machine, and started sucking him in despite how the ghost fought against it. Danny felt a bit of fear and hope. Had his mom shown up? That was clearly a Fenton Thermos. 

Danny looked into the shadows where the beam was coming from, frantically, hopeful, and fearful. Danny both wanted it to be his mom, and for it not to be because she could have seen him transform. 

A woman stepped out, but it wasn’t Danny’s mom.

Instead, it was a woman maybe just a little younger than Danny. Scratch that, even in the poor lighting, Danny thought she looked a lot like him too. Same curly black hair, blue eyes, and even a similar face shape and height.

It crossed Danny’s mind that she might have been the one the ghost was after all along, but Danny shook that thought away. If becoming part ghost was something that could happen to just anyone, Maddie would have long since picked apart the concept, and Danny hadn’t found anything about half-ghosts on her files when he’d check.    
  
This had to be a new ghost hunter then who’d picked up Fenton tech. Danny’s mom sometimes sold off equipment to pay the bills. 

The woman huffed, and closed the thermos, and then smiled down at Danny. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I’ve been tracking Skulker for a bit now, and I-”    
  
“Who are you?”    
  
“...right.” She put the thermos away in her bag, and then held her hand out “I’m Danielle.” She adjusted her necklace as she spoke. It was a rather bulky necklace, made with ribbon, and at the end was a large charm. Danny spotted  **_CW_ ** right before she tucked it into her shirt. 

“I’m Danny.” Danny cautiously introduced, and their similar names once again made him wonder if that ghost, Skulker, was mistaken after all. Maybe he had been looking for the ghost hunter targeting him, and thought Danny was the ghost hunter.    
  
Although it didn’t explain how the ghost knew he was part ghost, Danny was confident in that assumption. Danny took Danielle’s hand, and let her help him up off the ground. Her hand lingered a second, and she flinched a little and averted her gaze. 

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around...Danny.” Danielle gave him a forced smile, and then dashed off back into the darkness, leaving Danny with more questions than answers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a clarification on Mason, and Danny, Danny is a transman, although that won't come up too much in the fic. Valarie is a cis woman. Mason is their biological son. How? With the magic of Dubious Science as Done By Vlad. I know in real life any offspring of the method would be female due to, you know, science. But let's just ignore that.


End file.
